Direct-coupled tractor plow



Apn' 25, 195@ E. W. TODD DIRECT COUPLED TRACTOR PLOW 3 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed Feb. 19, 1945 AWN 25S, 395@ E. W. TODD 2505,58@

DIRECT coUPLEn TRAC-TOR PLOW Filed Feb. 19, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 3INVENTOR. [vf/ef Tr W. 7m@

atented pr. 25, 195@ T F E: ECE

DIRECT-COUPLED TRACTOR PLOW Everett W. rllodd, Racine, Wis., assigner toIThe Massey-Harris Company, Racine, Wis., a company of Maryland 2Claims.

ine present invention relates to direct coupled pows for a tractorhaving preferably a power lift and other means either mounted on theplow, or tractor whereby the tractor operator may, in addition todriving the tractor, control the plow by means of conveniently spacedlevers, etc.

An object of the present invention is to provide a plow which can beconveniently attached and detached from the tractor and wherein theoperator is generally not required to do anything after the plow is onceadjusted, except to attend to the depth plowed.

Many attempts have been made to design a direct coupled plow which woulddo as satisfactory work as the well known horse drawn sulky or gangplow. These attempts have largely failed because of the influence of themovements of the tractor on the plow. Applicants invention was conceivedfor the purpose of remedying this fault in direct coupled plows.

One of the objects of the present invention is to make the variousconnections to the tractor so the plow will be permitted to travel alongin a manner which will produce the best results with a minimumexpenditure of power.

To these and other useful ends my invention consists of parts,combinations of parts, or their equivalents and Inode of operation ashereinafter described and claimed and shown in the accompanyng drawingsin which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a conventional tractor equippedwith my invention, the near rear wheel being removed to more clearlyillustrate the invention and the plow being shown in a working position.

Fig. 2 is a top view `of my invention as shown in Figure 1, but showinga mere fraction of the tractor so as to more clearly illustrate theinvention.

Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6 are enlarged detail drawings illustrating certainessential parts of my invention.

Figs. 7 and 8 are enlarged drawings of a modi'- cation of the universaljoint between the draw bar and plow frame.

Fig. 9 is an enlarged drawing illustrating the adjustable linkconnection from the power lift arm to one side of the plow.

As thus illustrated the tractor in its entirety is designated byreference character A; the plow mechanism which includes the plowbottoms, beams, plow frame, and draw bar is designated in its entiretyby reference character B; numeral l i designates the frame of thetractor, having front guiding wheels l2-I2 and rear driving WheelslS-lil which are secured to the ends of axles lll-lll (one not shown),the axles extending through axle housings l5!5. The tractor is providedwith a seat i6. All of the plow operating levers are, as willhereinafter appear, positioned within easy reach of the operator.

My improved plow attachment may consist of two plow bottoms 2ll-2- Etmay also be designed for a single plow bottom or three plow bottoms.

As illustrated the plow bottoms have front and rear beams 2l and 22secured together at their rear by means of a brace 2L! and at theirfront bv means of a brace 24. In Figure 2 I have shown these braces asbeing integrally formed. l secure a shaft 25 to beams 2l and 22,preferably by means of U-bolts 26 and straps 2'! (see Figures 2 and 5),so the shaft may be easily loosened and turned fora purpose which willhereinafter appear.

On the ends of shaft 25 I provide eccentricallg; and oppositelypositioned pintles Zik-28. These pintles extend freely through openingsin plates IZB- 29, the plates having short square members Sil-3s? whichextend outwardly and are preferably welded to the plates as at 3l. Iprovide forward plow frame members 35 and 36 which are shaped about asshown in the figures, their rear ends having welded thereto and onopposite sides thereof, plates 3?-31 (see Figure 4) between whicheyebolts 33 are secured in vertically spaced relation, by means of bolts33-39- I provide caps l*ll through which bolts 3,8 extend. Members 3land fill are provided with depressions on their adjacent sides which areadapted to embrace the major part of members 3i?. Thus when bolts 38 aremade taut, members 29 will be held rigidly to members 35 and 35. Clearlytherefore when shaft 25 is turned, its transverse angle relative tomembers 35 and 36 will be changed because of pintles 28, the purposebeing to change the alignment of the rear fname relative to the frontframe so as to make the plow frame trail straight with its connection todrawbar 52. For changing the depth of furrow, all that is necessary isto change lever Bil. Members 35 and 35 are secured together near theirfront ends by means of a brace 55. These front ends converge and aresecured together preferably by another brace il?.

Near the forward end of the tractor frame il. I secure spaced dependingarms iB-@i8 having hingedly mounted thereon at their lower ends a shaft139. I provide rearwardly extending platesI Eil- 50 which are welded toshaft 39 as at 5l-5l, the front end of a draw bar 52 being pivotallymounted between members 5U by means of a boit t3. Thus drawbar 52 is atits rear end free to move horizontally and vertically and this bar issecured to the front ends of members 46 by means of a universal jointwhich in its entirety is designated by numeral 54. The object of thisuniversal joint is to permit the plows to swing sidewise or verticallyrelative to the rear end of member 52.

I provide means for adjustably positioning universal joint 54 verticallyand transversely as follows: A lever Si) is secured to one end of ashaft 6 I, the ends of this shaft being rotatably mounted in brackets62-62, one secured to each side of frame A sector 83 is rigidly securedto one of the brackets 52, an arm 64 is secured to shaft 6| and a link65 is hingedly secured to the rear end of this arm, the lower end of thelink being hingedly secured to an eyebolt 66 carried by member 54 (seeFigure 3). kThus member 54 may be raised and lowered by means of lever60 and link 65 will permit member 54 to be swung sidewise.

A lever 19 is pivotally mounted on the tractor frame as at 1I and havinga notched sector 12. A link 13 is hingedly mounted on the lower end oflever 19, its front end being hingedly secured to the outer end of anarm 14, the inner end of this arm being secured to drawbar 52 and beingfurther anchored to the drawbar by means of a brace 15.

It will be seen that by moving lever back and forth, member 54 will beswung sidewise in either direction. Thus levers 69 and 'I9 determine thevertical and transverse position of member 54;to thereby control thedepth and width of the fur-- rows turned. The plow frame and plows mustbe tilted transversely from time to time relative to the tractor forobvious reasons and the means for this operation will hereinafterappear'.

The means for raising, lowering and tilting the plow are as follows: Ahydraulic lift is prefably mounted within the rear upper corner of thetractor frame having an arm 89. A shaft 8| is pivotally mounted onbrackets 82-82 which are secured to the tractor frame, shaft 8| havingsecured thereto a hub with a plate 83. Another hub is rotatably mountedon shaft 8| having an arm 84 which lies freely against plate 83 andhaving a link connection 19 to arm 80 as shown in Figure 1. Plate 83near its upper end is provided with a series of closely spaced holeswhich are positioned on a radius with shaft 8|. A stop pin or bolt 85 isadapted to'be positioned in one of these holes, whereby when arm 84 ismoved forward far enough, shaft 8| will be turned but arm 84 is free tomove rearwardly away from bolt 85, which is the position desired whenthe plows aie operating, so the depth is controlled by the position oflmember 54 and not by the power lift. Under some conditions it may bedesirable to have member 83 secured rigidly to member 84. I

A hole is therefore provided in member 84 which registers with the holesin member 83.

A rearwardly extending arm 90 is secured to one end of shaft 8| having alink 9| which is hinged to arm 99 as at 92, the lower end of link 9|being hingedly connected to frame member 35 as at 93. Link 9| isprovided with a series of closely spaced holes 94 for making the properadjustments so that when the plow is operating, arm 84 will be a shortdistance away from bolt 85. On the other end of shaft 8| I secure an arm95 having hingedly mounted on its free end a block 96, through which acrank shaft 91 extends having collars 98-98 secured to the shaft,

.. so as to prevent end movement of the shaft but provide means foradjustment within reach of the operator for leveling the plow. A block99 having a pintle |00 which extends freely through member 36 isprovided. The lower end of shaft 91 is screw threaded into block 99, thethread on shaft 91 being long enough to provide normal adjustmentsbetween the rear end of arm 95 and member 36. i

It will be evident from the foregoing that the plow is permitted toswing sidewise on universal joint 54.

In Figure 6 I illustrate the preferred means for adjusting the down suckof the plow bottoms. On cross member 24 I mount an inverted L-shapedmember III) (see Figure 6) having a cap screw III screw-threaded intothe forward end of this member and having a nut I I2 for locking the capscrew into its adjusted position. A transverse brace |I3 is secured tomembers 35 and 36 having secured thereto a bracket |I4 on the top ofwhich the head of cap screw III rests when the plow is operating. Bymoving this cap screw up or down in bracket H9 the down suck of the plowbottoms is adjusted. Generally it is desired to permit member 24 to riseslightly after the power lift begins to raise the plow frame. I providea hook bolt I I5 which extends under member ||3 and through an openingin member IIiJ the upper being screw threaded for an adjusting nut IIB.Thus member II5 may be raised farenough to hold member II4 against thehead of member I I I or it may be lowered so as to permit` the beams ofthe plow bottoms and the plow frame to rise slightly on pintles 28 as anaxis before the plow bottoms begin to rise. A certain amount of' freemovement thus provided is beneficial to the operation of the plow.

I provide means to limit the side swing of the: plow as follows: AU-shaped loop |20 is secured. to member H4 as illustrated in Figure 6intov which a bar I2! slidably rests, the bar being transverselypivot-ed to the tractor at its front end as at |22. Thus the plow frameis free to rise and lower but will be permitted to be moved sidewiseonly a limited distance for obvious rea-I sons.

In Figures 1 and 8 I illustrate a preferred form of universal jointwherein the forward ends of members 35 and 35 are secured to a ballshaped member |26 by means of a bolt |21.

I provide upper and lower members |28 and. |29 which at their rear endsrotatably embrace. member |26, their forward ends being secured to therear end of member 52 as shown. Mem-1 ber |29 has a projection |39 withan opening |3| into which link 65 is hooked.v

By referring to Figures l and 2, it will be seen. that member 99 isconsiderably longer than member 95, the object of this arrangement beingto raise and lower the left hand side of the plow frame faster than theright, thus to maintain a level furrow at different depths and tomaintain a nearly level plow frame when the plow is in a raised positionafter the tractor wheel leaves the furrow.

Clearly as in the matter of the connection of the plow frameto thedrawbar, many minor detailed changes may be made without departing fromthe spirit and scope of my invention as recited in the appended claimsthe drawings merely disclosing the preferred design of the variouselements and their connections.

Having thus shown and described my invention I claim:

.1. Inf combinationwith a tractor.. having .a.,

power lift, a drawbar secured to the forward end of the tractor by meansof a universal joint, a frame having attached thereto earth workingmeans, said frame extending forwardly under the frame of the tractor andbeing connected to tne rear end of said draw bar by means of a universaljoint, means associated with said power lift for lifting the rear end ofsaid frame on said last universal joint as an axis, a lever positionedwithin reach of the tractor operator adapted to move the rear end ofsaid drawbar transversely on said rst universal joint as an axis,another lever positioned within reach of the operator adapted to raiseand lower the rear end of said drawbar on said rst universal joint as anaxis, said frame lifting means in its connection to the frame havingmanually operated means for tilting the frame transversely relative tothe tractor.

2. A device as recited in claim 1 including, the means associated withsaid power lift and frame including transversely spaced generallyrearwardly extending arms, each arm having a link connected to theadjacent side of the frame, the land side arm being longer than theother arm to thereby move the land side of the frame more rapidly thanthe other side of the frame when raising the frame.

EVERETT W. TODD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,240,758 Morton Sept. 18, 19171,378,842 Dittbrenner May 24, 1921 1,501,652 Ferguson July 15, 19241,916,945 Ferguson July 4, 1933 2,039,137 Slfe et al. Aug. 3, 19372,123,555 Morkovski July 12, 1938 2,140,144 Silver Dec. 13, 19382,159,669 Morkoski May 23, 1939 2,174,310 Tuft et al Sept. 26, 19392,222,115 Mott Nov. 19, 1940 2,223,002 Ferguson Nov. 26, 1940 2,265,970Miller Dec. 9, 1941 2,302,502 Morkoski et al Nov. 17, 1942 2,319,670 EgoMay 18, 1943 2,339,225 Strandlund Jan. 1'1, 1944 2,403,360 Graham July2, 1946 2,407,064 Dewey Sept. 3, 1946 2,416,207 Olson Feb. 18, 19472,420,530 Evans May 13, 1947 OTHER REFERENCES Plow Book, page 2,published by the Ferguson-Sherman Manufacturing Corporation of Dearborn,Michigan, in 1941.

